


Perfectly Gifted

by amythis



Category: Laverne & Shirley (TV)
Genre: Christmas Cookies, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, F/M, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27490609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amythis/pseuds/amythis
Summary: The Prompt: Looking for the perfect Christmas Gift for the spouseFavorite Tropes: Stay up late on Xmas Eve, the Laverne/Lenny pairing obviously.Summary: In 1961, Laverne tries to help her new stepmother find the perfect gift for her pop, but Lenny provides the solution.  Then Laverne has Lenny help her bake Christmas cookies for Santa.
Relationships: Edna Babish/Frank DeFazio, Laverne DeFazio/Lenny Kosnowski
Comments: 10
Kudos: 7
Collections: The Laverne and Shirley Holiday Exchange 2020





	Perfectly Gifted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Futsin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Futsin/gifts).



Laverne spent most of her free time in December 1961 trying to help find a Christmas gift for her landlady's sixth husband. She loved her pop and her new stepmother, but he wasn't the easiest person to shop for, and Mrs. Babish insisted on the gift being "perfect."

"What are you getting him?" Edna asked the evening they'd gone to Meckler's Department Store and Cunningham Hardware.

"A tie. I almost always get him a tie."

"Oh." Edna sighed. "I want it to be something special, since it's our first Christmas as a married couple, but I want something romantic but not mushy, and practical but not boring."

Laverne held up a wrench. "How about this with a red bow around it?"

Edna shook her head. "We'll keep looking."

Later, in the apron section at Meckler's, Laverne asked, "What did you do when you couldn't come up with a present for your other husbands?"

"Got pregnant."

"Oh."

"But it's too late for that, in more ways than one."

Laverne nodded and blushed.

Christmas was on a Monday that year, so after church on Sunday, Laverne and Edna went to as many still open stores as they could. They told Frank that they were shopping for the people left on their lists, but the only gift still remaining was the second Mrs. DeFazio's for her husband.

Finally, after dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where Edna's fortune read, "Don't pursue happiness, create it," and Laverne's was "I cannot help you, for I am just a cookie," they came back to Laverne's basement in defeat.

"I'm sorry, Laverne, for dragging you all over town on a pointless mission."

Laverne had turned down dates with cute guys and invitations to hang out with her friends, just to help Edna, but she said, "It was fun hanging out with you, feeling like a daughter again."

"Oh, Honey, you're my daughter every day."

Laverne felt all warm inside, and not just from the hot chocolate she'd made. As she and Edna hugged, she said, "Thanks, Mom."

When they let go, Edna asked, "Where's Shirley?"

"At the movies with Carmine." Laverne didn't tell Edna that it was an all-night date, since the Lower East Side Odeon was showing every version of _A Christmas Carol_ they could get their hands on, from a six-minute 1901 silent movie to the new Mr. Magoo TV special.

"Are you spending Christmas Eve all alone?"

"Yeah, unless you want me to help you knit socks with hearts and mistletoe on them for Pop."

"Tempting, but unfortunately neither of us knows how to knit."

"Yeah, the socks would look like a sad, pathetic mess."

"Hello."

Laverne looked over at the doorway, surprised that it was Lenny who said the usual greeting instead of Squiggy. But Lenny was accompanied only by his acoustic guitar.

"Hi, Lenny, been out caroling?" Mrs. Babish asked.

"Nah, I've been writin' my own Christmas song."

Laverne suddenly remembered Lenny writing a song about her months ago, and she really hoped he wasn't going to sing another love ballad to her, especially in front of her stepmother. "How nice, you'll have to play it for us sometime."

"I need to play it tonight, so Mrs. Babish can learn it."

"Me? You want me to play your song?"

"Yeah, for Mr. DeFazio." He strummed his guitar and then sang very slowly, sweetly, and sincerely:

> "Frankly, My Dear,  
>  My Darling Frank,  
>  This time of year  
>  It's you I thank  
>  For all the gifts  
>  You give to me.  
>  We'll work the shifts  
>  Of the blue sea.  
>  I'll be your elf,  
>  You'll be my Claus.  
>  I love yourself  
>  Just, well, because.  
>  It's you I thank  
>  This time of year,  
>  My Darling Frank,  
>  Frankly, My Dear."

The song was terrible. It was wonderful. Laverne wanted to laugh and cry, but did her best to resist.

"Show me the chords," Edna said in a choky voice.

Laverne gave her a pen and a piece of paper to write down the lyrics and make a simplified version of sheet music. When she had it down she said, "Thank you, Lenny. I'll go practice it on my ukelele before Frank gets home from the Pizza Bowl."

"Feel free to change it around," he said. "I know it ain't perfect."

Edna nodded. "It's a good start, but I might make it more personal."

"Yeah, you could add a dance to it if you want," Laverne half-joked, imagining Edna turning it into a production number.

Edna chuckled. "Thank you, too, Honey."

After Mrs. Babish left, with hugs for them both, Laverne said, "That was real sweet of you, Len."

He shrugged. "Squiggy said you two was goin' bonkers tryin' to find something for her to give to your dad, so I figured I could help a little."

"You helped a lot. Where is Squiggy tonight?"

"He went to the skating rink in his mistletoe suit."

"His mistletoe suit?"

"Yeah, it's his Sunday best, with sprigs in stratagemically placed locations."

After Laverne's laughter died down enough that she could speak, she said, "Oh, please tell me you took pictures!"

Lenny grinned. "With and without skates."

"I can't wait to see them when you get 'em developed."

"I'll get you a set. Uh, where's Shirley tonight?"

"At the _Christmas Carol_ marathon with Carmine."

"Oh, yeah, I thought about going to that, but I didn't wanna go stag with all that Scrooging."

She snorted. "Yeah. Hey, you wanna wait up with me?"

"For Shirley?"

"No, for Santa." She wasn't being sarcastic.

"Uh, Laverne, Santa ain't real. You told me that when we was seven."

"I know, but back in Brooklyn, before my mom got too sick, I'd help her bake cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, and me and Pop try to carry on the tradition when we can. But tonight he's making a pizza with Edna's face."

"Really?"

"Yeah, black olive eyes, pepperoni mouth, sausage nose, mushroom and onion ringlets along the sides."

"That sounds amazing!"

"Yeah, but I helped him pick out a necklace, too, for something more romantic."

"Pizza can be pretty romantic, Laverne."

"Yeah, I guess. Not like spaghetti, but yeah." She remembered going to see _Lady and the Tramp_ with him, Shirley, and Squiggy, although it wasn't a double date. They were all seventeen, but Shirley loved dogs and Disney, and it was a summer Saturday afternoon with nothing else going on.

"So you make cookies for Santa?"

"Yeah, and then we leave them on a plate and see how late we can stay up. Pop never makes it past midnight, but I saw sunrise a couple times."

"No Santa though?"

"Nah, he's pretty sneaky."

He leaned his guitar against a chair. "How can I help?"

"You can cut out the shapes once I get the dough ready."

They talked and laughed as she mixed the dough, including about what gifts they'd bought for everyone but each other. Then he carefully cut out the shapes, in some cases using cutters but in others skillfully making figures with a knife and fork. Some were predictable, like snowmen and angels, although the iguana-shaped one surprised her.

"Yeah, that's Geoffrey all right."

"I can't quite get the tail perfect, but he'll probably shed that when he bakes anyway."

When Lenny grabbed the heart-shaped cookie cutter, she reminded him, "Len, these ain't Valentine's cookies."

"Oh, right."

She saw the look of disappointment on his face. "Then again, we want Santa Claus to feel loved."

He smiled and made a couple heart shapes in the dough. Then she trimmed off the excess and popped the tray in the preheated oven.

"Can I taste some of the leftover dough?"

"Yeah, you've been a good boy." She suddenly didn't feel like being a good girl. She dipped a finger into the bowl and scooped some dough onto the tip. She held her fingertip out to Lenny, whose eyes widened. Then he lowered his head and lightly licked.

They spent the ten minutes it took the cookies to bake licking dough off each other's fingers. Their licks got longer and more intense, until by the time the timer dinged, Laverne was sucking Lenny's middle finger as his blue eyes glazed over.

Laverne washed her hands and then put the cookie sheet on the wire rack to cool. Lenny excused himself to the bathroom, to wash up in there he said. By the time he returned, she'd decorated the cookies, put them on a plate, carried the plate to the coffee table, warmed up the hot chocolate and poured a fresh cup for Lenny, carried both cups to the table, turned on the television, and snuggled up under a blanket on the couch.

"You cold?" he asked.

"Uh huh. I think it's snowing now."

He shivered. "Yeah, it is kinda chilly."

Her voice told him, "Well, I've got hot chocolate for us and Santa probably won't mind if we have a couple warm cookies," while her eyes told him _Get your cute little tushy over here._ His eyes answered _If that's what you want._

She threw the blanket open and he quickly climbed inside, wrapping it around both of them. He kissed her with surprisingly warm and soft lips and they spent the next several hours acting as if they were in a mistletoe shrub, and exchanging gifts that felt perfect. Santa never showed up but it was a merry Christmas anyway.


End file.
